Beth Gutcheon > Quotes

“I don't suppose you have to believe in ghosts to know that we are all haunted, all of us, by things we can see and feel and guess at, and many more things that we can't.”
― Beth Gutcheon, More Than You Know

“I wanted this day, the perfect buttery sun like peach ice cream, the speed, the satin leather of the car seat, the fair. Forbidden fruit, a day like no other. ”
― Beth Gutcheon, More Than You Know

“You're never too old to keep failing your children, are you? Why weren't we told this was a life sentence?”
― Beth Gutcheon, Good-bye and Amen

“Damned no matter what you do. Why do people think knowing secrets is fun?”
― Beth Gutcheon, Gossip

“Did you know that the origin of the word gossip in English is "god-sibling"? It's the talk between people who are godparents to the same child, people who have a legitimate loving interest in the person they talk about. It's talk that weaves a net of support and connection beneath the people you want to protect.”
― Beth Gutcheon

“Raymond, through some curious alchemy of his own, had come really to think a divorce was something you could win, as opposed to a situation in which the wounded attempt to contain loss. She once said to her friend Annie, “It’s like fighting over who gets the litterbox after the cat is dead. Raymond has forgotten we ever had a cat; he actually wants the litterbox. Full.” She said Annie had laughed and then Martha cried”
― Beth Gutcheon

“Youth was a condition defined by the fact that you don't know what you don't know until it's too late.”
― Beth Gutcheon, Death at Breakfast

“Tell us you're afraid, Mrs. Selky. Break down and cry. Let us feel that warm wet wash of pity, that prurient grief, that thrills because it's happened to you and not us. Give it to us, Mrs. Selky.”
― Beth Gutcheon, Still Missing: A Desperate Mother's Search and a Heartrending Suspense Novel with an Unforgettable Climax

“How can you tell a little about your whole child?”
― Beth Gutcheon, Still Missing: A Desperate Mother's Search and a Heartrending Suspense Novel with an Unforgettable Climax

“In marriage if one partner stays small and quiet in one area of the universe of two, the other may (or must) expand to fill the void.”
― Beth Gutcheon, Leeway Cottage

“Next door was a vegetarian café and deli, and next to that was the Wooly Bear yarn shop. Its logo was a caterpillar in shades of yellow, green, and scarlet. Maggie went in.
The shop was warm and bright, with one entire wall given over to cubbyholes filled with yarns of every hue in many weights and fibers. The opposite wall held small skeins and spools of thread on pegs for embroidery and quilting. There were racks of pattern books and magazines, and in the back a mini classroom was set up with a small maple table and folding chairs, now accommodating a group of eight-year-olds wielding fat knitting needles and balls of oversize wool. A girl of about sixteen wearing a Rye Manor sweatshirt was helping a little boy to cast on stitches.”
― Beth Gutcheon, The Affliction

“How quickly a person in pain whom you can't help becomes a reproach. And then, no doubt, a thorn.”
― Beth Gutcheon, Still Missing: A Desperate Mother's Search and a Heartrending Suspense Novel with an Unforgettable Climax

“But the greater truth is that life is not something you can go into training for.”
― Beth Gutcheon, Still Missing: A Desperate Mother's Search and a Heartrending Suspense Novel with an Unforgettable Climax

“Sacrifice is a necessary response to evil. You can only shame evil by showing them honor.”
― Beth Gutcheon, Leeway Cottage

“nobody owns grief”
― Beth Gutcheon, Still Missing: A Desperate Mother's Search and a Heartrending Suspense Novel with an Unforgettable Climax